Delicate Equilibrium
by petite etoile22
Summary: And the flames were so pretty, and the ashes like fairy dust... Ros sings softly as the flames illuminate her murky eyes... Her siblings look after her. Not because she's the youngest, but because of the madness hidden deep within.


_"This little piggy went to market"_

"_This little piggy stayed at home"_

"_This little piggy had roast beef"_

"_This little piggy had none"_

"_And this little piggy went wee wee wee"_

"_All the way home"_

"Shall we start again Father?" six green eyes chorused.

Jocelyn Myers raised his stumped hand and let out an anguished cry. The eyes did not react, they were waiting for an answer. His mustered all the authority he could before giving his reply.

"That's enough"

His children looked at each other.

"We really should sing it one more time for Mother" Phillip stated.

"For Mother" Sally agreed.

"For Mother" Ros confirmed.

"_This little piggy went to market"_

"_This little piggy stayed at home"_

"_This little piggy had roast beef"_

"_This little piggy had none"_

"_And this little piggy went wee wee wee"_

"_All the way home"_

Jocelyn Myers was shaken to the core by his mutilation. They had ignored him. He had lost control and he didn't like it one bit.

"You're being very naughty children."

Sally froze. She hated being naughty; she was always the good girl.

"I'm very disappointed. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ros shrugged her shoulders. She was never the most eloquent in the presence of her father.

"Phillip?"

His son merely smiled and severed his Achilles' tendons.

"Can't run away now…" he sneered.

"Can't save yourself" Sally hissed.

"Can't hide" Ros smiled softly.

"We learnt to share"

"Aren't you proud of us daddy?"

"Yes daddy, aren't you proud?"

"I go first. I'm the eldest"

"And I go next!"

"And I, Rosalind go last."

"We're going to spend sometime together" Phillip whispered, slipping on a knuckle duster.

"Just like the old days" Sally sang as she pulled out the water board.

"And you loved spending time with us remember? You adored it" Ros murmured taking her place beside her younger sibling. They gave their brother an adoring smile before they shut the door fast behind them.

* * *

**Phillip:**

Phillip was a good boy. Phillip never cried. Not even when the antiseptic stung his various cuts and bruises. He knew it would be worth it in the end. _Make you a man_ his father said. Phillip knew what he was going to do when he became a man but he wasn't sure his father would approve. He withstood the beatings because they only made him stronger. He talked to Ros a lot, even if she didn't talk back much. Just to see her smile was enough for him. He loved her dearly and her cunning surpassed them all. Sometimes he thought that she was only quiet because she was thinking all the time. That's how he explained it to Sally, who got awfully upset when Ros didn't speak to her. He began to hate his father because they had taken his place once when he was 16. It was not the wailing of his youngest sister that distressed him; they'd become immune to that years ago. It was the statement in his younger sister's eyes. _There are worse things than this._ He became a man that day because that's what little boys do.

Jocelyn Myers couldn't move for broken bones. All attempt at speech resulted in incoherent moans. He'd been castrated; emasculated by his own son. The shame burned deep within him. Phillip was a coward, a coward for this trickery and disengagement from battle.

"You never were a man Father, just a coward"

* * *

**Sally:**

Sally was a good girl. Sally never lied. But Sally was awfully lonely and confused. She couldn't understand why she had to go to school in England or why her sister disappeared for days on end. She was the youngest but she had to look after Rosalind. That was what Phillip had told her. They had to look after Rosalind because she couldn't look after herself. That's why she wasn't angry when Ros decapitated her pet rat. In fact, she was secretly proud because Ros was terrified of rodents. The only thing she hated was the silence. The way Ros was able to stare at one spot for hours on end like a statue. She'd gotten angry one day and went in search for her sister. It wasn't fair. Everyone else's sisters played with them. She'd found Ros face down in the water, held there by Jocelyn. He looked shocked when he saw her and flung her sister to one side like a rag doll. All Sally could do was stare and pray that her sister was alive. She nodded slightly in response to the unconscious girl's shiver. Jocelyn had sworn her to secrecy. When they returned home and their father made up some nonsense about Ros going to close to the water's edge, she agreed. So no, Sally never lied. She just didn't tell the truth.

Jocelyn gasped as the last of the water trickled down his back. His lungs were on fire and no breath was enough to quench his thirst for air. Sally merely laughed at his distress.

"It's just a little water! Ros survived."

"Ros is different"

"Ros was just a little girl"

"She wasn't… You're just like your mother. Always seeing the good in people."

"You're alive because of her. We'd have killed you but she begged us not to" she hissed before slamming the door, encasing him in darkness.

* * *

**Rosalind:**

Rosalind was a bad girl. But Ros never told. She'd been under strict orders not to. Ros always tried to do what she was told. So Ros didn't speak. Her mother was in despair after sending her to all those therapists only to receive silence. She had her father to thank for that. He taught her the meaning of control. He had worked out what was wrong with her and found the cure before anyone ever had an inkling. And so she would sit there for days on end, enduring the incessant droplets of water hitting her forehead and the interludes of electric shocks. After all, they were making her better. Regardless of age, she was the baby of the family. It was the madness in her. A dark, gripping madness that Rosalind wasn't allowed to play with. She had to learn how to shut it away. She'd only let out once and she'd been truly sorry. It was Phillip who had found her holding the rat's head, bespattered with its blood. She was shaking violently and had the blade trained towards her brother's neck. But he had told her everything would be alright if she put the knife down. He promised her they wouldn't have to tell father and they didn't. Ros was in control now. Perfectly in control. If someone tells her to jump, she asks how high. If someone tells her to make them happy, she gives it her all. If someone orders her to kill, she pulls the trigger without question. Yes, Rosalind Myers is in control but they still won't let her play in the knife drawer.

She tends to his wounds carefully, desperately trying not to hurt him. Jocelyn comes round with a start and for a brief moment she resembles a deer in headlights. He looks at her coolly, wondering if she has changed as well.

"Rosalind?"

Her head shoots up.

"Sit"

She sits.

"Kneel"

She kneels.

"Roll over"

She rolls over. He smiles and pats her softly on her head.

"Good girl, good girl..."

The only person with more control over Rosalind than herself was her father. She tries to ignore the compassion tugging at her attention; she doesn't want to let him down.

"_I'm sorry. Phillip and Sally got carried away"_ her voice was so quiet, he had to strain his ears just to make out what she was saying.

"It doesn't matter"

_"Why wouldn't you let me play with them?"_

"You were too dangerous"

_"Do you remember the silver lighter?"_

"Yes"

_"You used to let me light your cigars…"_

He burns so well that she can't help but smile.

_"And the flames were oh so pretty, and the ashes like fairy dust…"_ she sang softly. 

Her siblings lead her away quietly, not wishing to upset her delicate equilibrium. Rosalind Myers was good at obeying orders. Especially if they were from her friend, The Madness.


End file.
